When Kibishi shifted his gaze there, a particularly noticeable red color was fluttering before his eyes in the pure white space.

Kibishi continued walking following that red color. No matter how long he walked, he didn’t seem to get closer to the fluttering red but rather seemed to be getting farther away.

But it didn’t matter.

Whether it took days, months, as long as he could reach that place, he could meet the Grace he knew again.

Because she needed him.

“Grace.”

“……Kibishi?”

And after a long time passed, Kibishi extended his hand to Grace whom he finally met.

⁕⁕⁕

“Marian……?”

When she opened her eyes, the scenery she saw was Endworth Castle, Grace’s room. Marian in a white gown was tightly holding her hand.

“……Miss.”

When Grace only blinked and looked, Marian hugged her tightly.

“It’s been a long time. You’ve really grown a lot.”

“Marian, how am I here…… Kibishi. Where’s Kibishi?”

The last person who had been by her side was definitely Kibishi. Grace asked while recalling that.

Marian let go of Grace and smiled.

“The person you’re looking for brought you here when you were unconscious. He’s outside with Sir Harkan now.”

Grace, who had been staring at Marian, this time opened her arms and hugged her.

“Thank you……”

“I missed you, Miss.”

Marian said while patting Grace’s back.

“Miss, Sir Melvin……”

And she was about to bring up a story about Melvin.

It was when Grace was holding her breath and trying to listen carefully.

“Are you looking for this old man?!”

Melvin burst open the door and entered the room.

“Sir Melvin, you’re startling Miss.”

“In my joy at being able to meet Miss again…… Did this old man make a mistake?”

‘Am I seeing a ghost?’

Did she regress again?

‘But Marian is wearing a white gown and remembers me……?’

Grace only stared blankly at Melvin with wide eyes. Then she finally opened her mouth and spoke.

“H-how……? Melvin, you were sick……”

“After you disappeared, the saint who was said to be missing came secretly.”

When Melvin only laughed bitterly, Marian answered instead.

“He treated me and Sir Melvin while saying that if we weren’t here when you returned, you would be sad and would blame herself and suffer.”

“Adrian…… The saint……?”

“Yes, thanks to him we were able to wait for you here. When we first heard the news that you died, I really felt like the world was collapsing……”

“Marian, calm down.”

Melvin approached and pulled a remaining chair next to Grace who was lying down and sat.

“A few days ago the Duke suddenly expelled all the soldiers as well as the servants remaining in the castle. Now only me, Marian, Harkan, the Merseden family, and the mercenary who brought you are here. I heard a brief explanation from the Duke then, but Miss……”

Melvin was explaining when he slightly avoided Grace’s gaze and asked.

“Rachel…… How was she? In your view, was that child a good mother?”

Was Rachel a good mother? Melvin was very cautious, like someone who had agonized many times over whether he should ask that question.

Grace smiled and said.

“She was a desperate person.”

Rachel said she had seen everything about how Grace had grown up inside her, what she had experienced while repeating regressions.

She even said she had personally turned back time.

“For me.”

Just as Grace had done, she wouldn’t have turned her eyes away from the pain Grace experienced due to her own actions. She would have faced and acknowledged it properly as her own sin.

Perhaps the person who suffered the most while watching all of that was her.

She would have endured that pain to find a future where only her daughter could be happy.

Really, she must have been desperate.

Grace suddenly had such thoughts.

“Miss……”

Moisture slightly gathered above Melvin’s eyes. Grace took his hand from the bed.

Melvin looked down at their clasped hands then raised his other hand to wipe away tears.

“Miss, now we will all leave Endworth Castle.”

“……What do you mean?”

“It’s the Duke’s request. This old man did scold him asking if he was trying to run away now, but he said it was his last request.”

“Then what about the duchy? Where will all of you go……?”

“That’s……”

“Miss.”

Melvin was about to answer when Marian called Grace.

“Would you like to go to the corridor once? A very shy person is waiting for you, Miss.”

“A shy person?”

Grace asked back while looking at Melvin. He just smiled and nodded without giving any particular answer.

She got up and went out to the corridor. And it was when she was closing the door.

“……Grace.”

Armon was waiting for her.

“How did you know to come here?”

“The day you ran out of the mansion, the saint came. He said if I went to Endworth Castle, I would be able to meet you again……”

The saint again. Just how busily had Adrian been running around? For what purpose? Grace wondered while staring at Armon.

Armon was hunching his shoulders and couldn’t make eye contact with Grace.

“……The talk with the imperial family is finished. I’ll take Melvin and Marian to the mansion in Devon……”

At his attitude and appearance, Grace frowned and approached him.

“G-Grace, sor…… Huh?”

And she immediately tapped Armon’s shoulder with her palm. He opened his eyes wide in bewilderment.

“Straighten your shoulders.”

It was words and actions she could do because she had seen many things inside Rachel.

“Brother, that appearance doesn’t suit you. Don’t ever say sorry while calling my name.”

Because she had lived with Rachel, because of the words she had said, Grace could have courage.

No, the courage she had planted had already grown.

She could now face the Mersedens properly.

“I’m not saying I forgive all the wrongs you did to me. Now I want to properly…… Hey, why are you crying again?”

“Grace……”

Armon began crying like a child, shedding thick tears. Grace watched him, sighed, and smiled.

My younger sister. She still remembered the words he had said when she ran out of the mansion.

Perhaps Armon also seemed to be trying to face Grace properly.

⁕⁕⁕

“What’s so special about this position……”

In Casper’s office, Dius muttered while sitting in a chair.

A position that would become just a shell, mere facade. A position that would no longer be needed.

“I’ve been caught by father’s whims again.”

He seemed to be speaking to someone, but since he was alone there, no answer came back.

There was always one knight by his side, but now even he was gone.

It was when he had sent the knight outside the duchy to find his younger sister who had pretended to be dead and hidden away, his immortal younger sister.

The knight periodically sent letters to Dius, but from one day the contact was completely cut off.

When he found out later, he had died. By some gray-haired mercenary.

Even that was information he had struggled to find out. At that time Dius was desperately trying to protect the Merseden ducal house from the pressure of the imperial family and temple in place of Casper.

He had even considered whether things might become quiet if he killed the heir to the throne in a fit of rage, but Dius endured all humiliation for the sake of the duchy.

“……But now you’re going to kick everyone out. Isn’t that funny?”

“……”

“I know you’re behind the door, my younger sister.”

Grace slowly opened the door and entered.

“Father still seems to hate me. Is it because I’m not a good son?”

“……”

“Are you afraid of me? I still can’t forget that day when you trembled while looking at me after I returned from the capital.”

“……In the past, yes.”

“Still, I think I treated you quite well. Anyway, you’re saying not now.”

“You didn’t treat me well, you held my weakness and played with me. You knew I couldn’t die and did it on purpose.”

Grace answered with a slight frown. Dius nodded silently as if he wouldn’t deny it.

Then he asked.

“So? Are you going to take revenge for that?”

“Revenge…… I’ve tried it, so I don’t think I need to do it again.”

“……?”

“And when you died, you had a relieved smile, which actually made me feel bad.”

For Dius, death was rather liberation.

Seeing his mother’s death and his father’s attitude toward it, Dius considered himself an endlessly pathetic existence.

Not clean. Not righteous. No different from others.

Yet he had used and manipulated others at will to gain profit.

Rather, because he was whipping himself as evil, he could commit such acts even more boldly.

And he was waiting for someone to punish such a self someday.

“I can’t see that sight twice.”

Dius was looking at Grace with an expression that said ‘Has this kid finally gone crazy?’

He composed his expression and asked.

“So how is it? What emotions do you feel when you see me now, my younger sister?”

The chair he was sitting on and the desk his hand was touching were freezing with crackling sounds.

‘The Merseden ability becomes stronger the more directly one faces their own sorrow.’

Grace recalled those words and Dius’s childhood appearance. The boy who had wailed to protect his mother’s belongings from his broken father.

She slowly parted her lips.

“I pity you, now.”

“……Pity.”

“Even killing you couldn’t k*ll the fear I had toward you all this time, but now I can k*ll it completely. Now you just look like a pitiful person.”

“Pitiful…… Pfft, puhahahaha……!”

Dius muttered the same word then began laughing while holding his stomach alone. Grace watched him with cold eyes then opened her mouth.

“You’re going to stay here alone? I just heard the news and came.”

“Ah…… Wait, wait a moment……”

Dius raised his hand in a gesture asking to wait a moment. He laughed for a while longer then finally opened his mouth.

“Ha, yes, I’m going to stay here. Shouldn’t someone from the Mersedens guard this place?”

“……”

“But why? Are you going to stay with me, my younger sister?”

“No. Just live here alone for the rest of your life. I came to tell you that.”

Because that’s the punishment you must receive directly without escaping through death.

At Grace’s answer, Dius only made a bitter smile. Then as if searching for something lost, he turned his head and stared into empty space.